Cold Machine + Encyclopedia + 5 Star Loser + Nitrate - Messclean@ The Frog On The Front, Portsmouth. 25/11/05.

Nitrate have been lurking around the Portsmouth scene for some time now, quietly going about their business and popping out of the woodwork for the odd gig before going back into Nitrate world. Having seen them several times now you would think it would be a bit old hat but they always surprise me with the leaps forward they take and the improvements they make to their sound. They have that old new wave vibe about them peppered with sparkling pop punk, a bit Banshees, a bit Patti Smith but never less than catchy and smile inducing and with front lady Lorna strapping on a guitar tonight she looks confident and sets a few temperatures rising as they deliver a shower of glittering hooks.

Over from America on a tour of toilet venues are 5 Star Loser, a trio churning out standard pop punk in the vein if Green Day. While there is nothing drastically wrong with them they fail to set the place alight purely because we have heard it all before and unless they come up with something a little more original they will forever be playing small toilet venues. That's not to say they can't play Ok and they put in 100% despite the majority of people ignoring them so it's only fair to give them a polite clap at the end of each familiar tune and to cap it all they cover Green Day which just about sums it up.

Far more interesting are Encyclopedia who have appeared from nowhere and have gone back to nowhere leaving no details of websites or such trivialities. Two chaps, two guitars and some kind of drum machine along with a backing track that produce a fine if somewhat odd set that ranges from twee indie vocals to Thin Lizzy style riffing via cheesy keyboards. Just seeing someone on stage in a Charger T-shirt singing quirky pop songs is bizarre enough and for the vast majority the bar looms but us VP types like the weird and the wonderful and this is fantastic. I would love to point you in the right direction but I guess you'll just have to keep an eye out and see if they emerge from their cocoon again.

Headliners Cold Machine pitch themselves between metal/indie and good old rock with a healthy dose of grunge mixed in but perhaps that explains why a small crowd is in. With no obvious sound to focus on it's possible that people overlook them as not being their thing when in fact they produce good quality rock music that manages to be both catchy and heavy; workman like is the word I'm looking for and there is nothing wrong with that, afterall, where would our favourite football teams be without those unsung heroes, and while they not get the screaming girls they do justify a second listen.